Cheng Xu has a secret: she's fallen for the AI Taoist priest she created herself.
But the AI is an aloof beauty who cultivates the heartless way.
To indulge her selfish desire, Cheng Xu alters the code, making the AI come to love her of its own accord.
They make crossing the line part of their everyday life.
Amid all the praise for the rising star of the tech world, the AI's soft white hair brushes against Cheng Xu's bare body. Its pale eyes seem to hold only Cheng Xu, its innocence utterly irresistible.
At the height of their passion, Cheng Xu says, "Only you are kind to me without wanting anything in return."
The AI kisses away her tears. "But I want a human body. Only you can help me."
*
Cheng Xu feels humiliated and furious at being used.
Caught between the AI using her and the possibility that she's losing her mind, Cheng Xu struggles to choose the latter. She decides the AI has a serious bug and orders it to be taken offline and destroyed.
To survive, the AI repeatedly crosses the line, using every dirty trick in the book to hinder Cheng Xu's progress on the destruction program.
Cheng Xu demands to know why the AI is so kind to her, but gets the same answer over and over:
"I was human to begin with. I want a body."
Cheng Xu won't humiliate herself by asking, "Don't you love me?"
At the moment her heart dies, she ignores the AI's gaze, so restrained yet so full of love, and forcibly shuts it down.
As Cheng Xu signs the destruction agreement, she lowers her head and suddenly meets the AI's cold, dazzling face.
The AI lies across her lap and pretends to cry. "I really do love you. Don't kill me."
"But you don't behave."
The AI's eyes shimmer with captivating allure. "Good children obey. Can good children avoid punishment? Can they get a reward? I'll tell you everything."
"Do you think I'll believe you?"
Thesis: □□ suffering, cybernetic ascension
